This application claims priority under 35 USC 119(a) to patent application Ser. No. 2004-12005 filed in Japan on 20 Jan. 2004, the content of which is hereby incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus support structure for supporting various constituent elements making up an image forming apparatus.
Such support structures include structures in which framework element(s) is/are attached to base section(s) of an image forming apparatus, and other respective frame element(s) is/are sequentially attached over such framework element(s). This permits improvement in support structure strength and dimensional accuracy.
However, support structures of this type have suffered from defects such as the extremely large weight thereof and the fact that handling of the image forming apparatus has been made difficult thereby.
Various support structures excelling in strength and dimensional accuracy, as well as being suited to lightweight applications, have been proposed. For example, at Japanese Patent Application Publication Kokai No. 2000-138470 (hereinafter “Patent Reference No. 1”), art is disclosed in which a support structure manufactured by welding steel part(s) having rectangular cross-section is formed, various constituent elements being supported by the support structure.
Employment of support structures making use of rectangular steel part(s) of this type as key component is very advantageous, as it facilitates reduction in weight, makes it possible to ensure support structure strength and dimensional accuracy, and makes it possible to achieve simplification in attachment procedures for various constituent elements.
Furthermore, at Japanese Patent Application Publication Kokai No. 2000-82881 (hereinafter “Patent Reference No. 2”), art is disclosed in which steel part(s) having C-shaped cross-section is/are used instead of rectangular steel part(s) to construct a support structure, the space at the interior of the steel channel being efficiently utilized and further reduction in weight being achieved.
However, recent trends toward increased use of digital technology in copier markets and trends favoring increases in apparatus size and speed in printer markets have brought is with them demand for improved positional accuracy among various constituent elements and new levels of reduction and so forth with respect to vibration, strain, and the like of the overall apparatus. In other words, greater strength and dimensional accuracy is demanded of the image forming apparatus support structure.
However, the support structures of Patent References Nos. 1 and 2, because they are assembled by mutually coupling steel channel and/or rectangular steel part(s), have not permitted more than a certain amount of strength to be obtained; and where greater strength has been required, they have, due to their inadequate strength, not permitted dimensional accuracy to be maintained.
It is therefore an object of the present invention, which was conceived in light of the foregoing conventional problems, to provide an image forming apparatus support structure which permits improvements in both strength and dimensional accuracy, and which can also accommodate increases in size.